No Ordinary Child

By Barbara B. Smith

In a world that often denies motherhood its great significance, I think it is important to remember the Savior’s birth.

I have never walked in the silent streets of Bethlehem. I have not seen the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee nor the stars over the field of the shepherds.

Yet, sometimes I feel that I can understand the paths Mary walked, for I too am a mother. I have known the overwhelming joy of holding an infant in my arms and have felt awe as I looked upon my newborn child.

In this reverent wonder—wonder at the divine potential of each new child—let us consider the miracle of birth—the birth of that baby in a manger nearly two thousand years ago.

When Mary and Joseph reached Bethlehem, they found for their rest only the fresh straw of a stable, where the birth could take place quietly and immediately, for the time had arrived.

For most women, there is a reverence for life that grows as the child grows. There is a giving of oneself to faith as the process of birth occurs, and there is a wrenching of body and spirit. But for Mary, the experience must have been even more reverent. For Mary knew she was clothing with mortality the immortal spirit of the Son of God, who would become the Christ, the Redeemer of mankind.

That night so long ago was as any other night to most people, I am sure. Of course it had the particular frustrations of the census gathering, but most of the people just ate and talked and went to bed.

Then, suddenly, in a quiet field nearby, there were angels singing, announcing the birth of a new child.

There is not scriptural evidence that the people of Bethlehem heard the angels. But the shepherds heard them, and followed their song to the manger where the infant Jesus lay. I wonder if Mary heard that music. The scriptures do not say, but is there not singing in the heart with a new birth—and is there not the feeling that all the world should stop and see this new child?

To most persons in Bethlehem, the child born to Mary would be one more Israelite to be added to the tax rolls: born, a son, to Joseph and Mary of Nazareth, descendant of David, through the tribe of Judah. But Mary looked at the little infant, so tiny and helpless, and knew that he was no ordinary child. His great potential and his utter helplessness must have been overwhelming. The manner of his conception had been miraculous, and she must have trembled to realize that the responsibility of nurturing this divine child was hers.

Christmas blesses us with an awareness of the sacredness of birth, an understanding of the miracle of human life unfolding.

In a world that often denies motherhood its great significance, I think it is important to remember the birth of Jesus Christ. It is also important to remember that his mission was only possible because his mother gave him his mortality and his Father gave him his immortality. It took both parents to make the Christ’s saving mission possible.

There is a timeless significance to the miracle of birth, for it means the perpetuity of human kind. It also means that eternal progression is possible, for the spirit needs a body to progress eternally. In this, there is an essential companionship between the men and the women of the world. Being a mother leads to wondrous personal growth, and it comes not only with bearing children but more particularly with raising them. We all need refinement of spirit, and we need those experiences which will do the task.

Remember how, following her son’s discussion with the doctors in the temple, Mary pondered many things in her heart? I have pondered many things in my heart as I have watched my children grow, and I know that faith is reborn with each new child, and the need of faith grows as the child grows.

God grant us an open heart, that we might experience a renewal of our faith and of our commitment to act as his disciples. In the true spirit of this joyful season may we have the faith to honor the Savior’s life by giving to our children and to all others who need us here and now the same kind of love and caring that he gives to us.

• Sister Barbara B. Smith, former Relief Society General President, now lives in Hong Kong, where her husband, Elder Douglas H. Smith of the First Quorum of the Seventy, presides over the Asia Area of the Church.

“The Small Cowper Madonna,” (detail); Raphael; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Widener Collection.

Reprinted with permission of Providence Litho.

“The Holy Night” by Feuerstein. Courtesy of H. Armstong Roberts.